What Inspires You to Design for Your Customer?
I am most inspired by my gardens.
From the first ferns’ fiddleheads in the spring
that push through the winter leaves and slowly unfurl,
to the way the late summer rays pierce the lush tree canopy
to reveal the dappled depths of the pond,
to the ginkgo leaves that fall like golden snow on a clear autumn day;
These connections to nature
and the passing of time~
these all find their way into my art.

To capture these moments,
to convey these exquisitely beautiful slices of time,
to make these ethereal and fleeting visions in my garden
into something permanent,
something that I can share with you,
this is my passion.

When you see my jewelry and understands this,
when it evokes something in your heart,
a connection to your past,
a dream for your future,
I have succeeded.

The biggest rewards of my art is how my jewelry makes you feel;
when it becomes part of you,
a way for you to reveal a facet of your soul,
a method of sharing your vision of beauty,
a declaration of how you see yourself in the world.

What Inspires You Visually?

I take exceptional delight and inspiration from my abundant gardens and my koi pond, and all the creatures that live there. The linear patterns of branches, the swelling of buds, the unfurling of leaves, the fullness of a flower, and the lush texture and color of a blossoms all find their way into my work.

Along with the botanical elements, the honeybees, fish, dragonflies, toads, frogs, butterflies, cicadas, birds and other creatures that live in my gardens also find their way into my pieces. The beautiful landscapes of Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland also hold me in their thrall.

I also take great delight in ponds and streams…water rushing over worn rocks, eddies and swirls of water in ever-changing patterns, flickers of fish in the water’s depths, the colors and textures of mosses growing on the stones and the banks, and the tracery of the over-arching trees and sky reflecting in the water.

Lastly, antique ephemera and details are ties to the past that delight and inspire me…1891 wallpaper I uncovered in our Bellefonte home while restoring it, an ancient tiny bronze teapot that looks amazingly like a gourd complete with stem and leaves, the trefoil cutouts of a Victorian walnut table’s lower frieze, the entwined carved roots that become supports of an Art Nouveau walnut sideboard, ornate fonts on an old biscuit tin, the freckled patina of a gracious gilded old mirror that has lost some of its silvering, but has seen more than I ever will. I draw on these complex memories, and endeavor to create jewelry that will have that lasting unique beauty that will make it timeless and adored for generations to come.